Column selecting and tabulating circuit for a printing machine



A. RESZKA COLUMN SELECTING AND TABULATING CIRCUIT FOR A PRINTING MACHINEATTORNEY July 7, 1970 Sov-: @El mm-: L L

3,519,118 Patented July 7, 1970 3,519,118 COLUMN SELECTING ANDTABULATING CIRCUIT FOR A PRINTING MACHINE Alfons Reszka, Northbrook,Ill., assignor to Teletype Corporation, Skokie, Ill., a corporation ofDelaware Filed July 3, 1967, Ser. No. 650,858 Int. CI. B413 25/18 U.S.Cl. 197-176 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION Pat. No. 3,060,429, granted to C. R. Winston on Oct. 23, 1962,discloses a device for printing by transferring ink to paper insubstantially the same |way that a cathoderay tube transfers electronsto a phosphorescent screen. As disclosed in the copending application toC. R. Winston, Ser. No. 449,732, led on Apr. 21, 1965, now Pat. No.3,432,844, it is possible to mount many of these ink-transfer devicesside-by-side across the width of a page printer in order to print inlines across the width of a page. At any given time that one or more ofthe devices are used to print alphanumeric characters at predeterminedlocations (columns) on the page of paper, the rest of the ink-transferdevices are prevented from transferring ink to the paper. After acharacter is printed in one column on the paper, the next character isprinted in the next column to the right of that one column until acomplete line has been printed. When the end of a line is reached, thepaper is advanced by a suitable line-feed mechanism; and printing of thenext line is resumed at the left margin of the page. In such a printer,as in any printer, it is desirable to provide means for tabulating topredetermined columns quickly in response to a tabulation command.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, as applied to an automatic-telegraph,characterby-character page printer using a plurality of ink-transferdevices, a binary counter normally receives from a pulse source oneadvance pulse each time that a character is printed in response to thecompletion of printing of that character. The output from the counteractivates selected ones of the ink-transfer devices; and as the counteris advanced, ink-transfer devices that have printed a character areturned olf and other ink-transfer devices located to their right areturned on, in order to print in successive columns from left to right onthe page copy. To tabulate, advance pulses are applied to the counter ata rate which is faster than the normal rate at which characters areprinted, simulating rapid spacing of the page printer. Alternatively,one or more telegraph character signals can be received to set thecounter directly to a desired column position on the pageto the right orleft of the character last printed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A more complete understanding of theinvention may be obtained by those skilled in the art from the followingdetailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing, the single gure of which is a schematic diagram of a circuitfor controlling spacing and tabulation across a page printer.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention forty printingpositions and printing devices are indicated. However, in theaccompanying drawing only nine of these printing devices are actuallyshown. A dash-dot line is used to indicate that thirty-one printingdevices have not been shown in the drawing, for clarity, since to showand describe them would simply be repetitious.

The several printing devices contain similar parts, and these similarparts are referred to with the same reference numbers. However, todesignate the part of each individual printing device, a dash-number isused after the reference number. For example, the -amplier that is usedin each device is referred to by the reference number 19. However, theamplier that is used with the leftmost or `first printing device isreferred to by the reference number 19-1 to indicate that it is anamplifier 19 but associated with the iirst printing device. Similarlythe amplifier associated with the second printing device is also giventhe reference number 19 but is given a dashnumber 2. Similarly, theamplifier associated with the sixth printing device is referred to bythe reference number J9-6. A similar technique is used in referring toeach of those parts in the drawing which are repeated for each printingdevice.

When referring generally to the construction of the circuit for anyprinting device, without specific reference to any particular one of theseveral devices, the reference number only is used without the dashnumber, thereby to indicate that part in any of the forty printingdevices; and it is understood that similar parts are contained in eachprinting device.

In a like manner a nozzle 10` is shown in association with the valvingelectrode 11-1 of the iirst printing device; however, it is to beunderstood that there is a nozzle 10 associated with each valvingelectrode 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, etc. Each valving electrode 1.1 also hasassociated deflection electrodes 12-to-15, inclusive.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawing, there is shown in adiagrammatic form an ink transfer device of the type shown in theabove-mentioned patent to C. R. Winston. In that device ink is suppliedat a negligible hydrostatic pressure to a nozzle 10. This nozzle 10 isconstructed of a conductive material and is maintained at a negativeelectrostatic potential. A -valving electrode 11, having a central hole9, is positioned with this hole 9 directly in front of the nozzle 10.When the valving electrode 11 is maintained at a zero electrostaticpotential, no ink iiows from nozzle 10 and the ink transfer device isturned oif. When the valving electrode 11 is maintained at a substantialpositive electrostatic potential, ink which carries an electrostaticcharge acquired from the metallic nozzle 10 is drawn from the nozzle 10by electrostatic attraction and passes through the hole 9 in the valvingelectrode 11.

The ink then passes between two vertical deflection electrodes 12 and13, and diierences in voltage between the two deflection electrodes 12and 13 cause the electrostatically charged ink to be deected in thevertical direction. Next, the ink passes between two horizontaldeflection electrodes 14 and 15 placed at right angles to the verticaldellection electrodes 12 and 13; and the electrodes 14 and 15 aresupplied with electrostatic potentials of different magnitudes in orderto deect the ink droplets inthe horizontal direction.

Analog signals are applied to the deflection electrodes 12, 13, 14 and15 to cause the ink to trace an alphanumeric character on a piece ofpaper upon which it impinges. A circuit for supplying the analogdeflection signals to the deflection electrodes 12, 13, 14 and 15, inresponse to six-bit permutation-coded data signals received over atelegraph line, is disclosed in the abovementioned copending Winstonapplication.

A plurality of these ink transfer devices as shown in theabove-mentioned Winston patent are arranged in a row transversely of thepaper on which characters are to be printed in lines. Any one of thesemany devices may be turned on or off by controlling the voltage appliedto its valving electrode 11, and in the drawing, representative ones ofthe valving electrodes 11 are shown schematically. Each valvingelectrode 11 is connected to a zero-volt electrostatic potential orground through a resistor 16 having a resistance of several megohms. Theground potential on the valving electrodes 11, while it makes thepotential of the electrodes 11 positive relative to the negativepotential on the nozzles 10, is well below the potential difference thatmust exist between the nozzles and the electrodes 11 in order to drawink at atmospheric pressure from the nozzles 10 associated with valvingelectrodes held at ground potential.

Each valving electrode 11 also is connected through a normally-opencontact pair 17 to the positive side of a D.C. source. Whenever acontact pair 17 is closed, a relatively high positive potential isapplied directly to the associated valving electrode 11, providingsufficient electrostatic potential between the nozzle 10 and theassociated valving electrode 11 to extract a stream of ink droplets fromthe nozzle 10. Each normally-open contact pair 17 is closed when currentflows through an associated relay coil 18, operated by the output of anassociated amplifier 19 whenever the corresponding printing position isto be activated.

A space generator 25 is shown in the drawing as a functional block andperforms the same function as a comparable circuit disclosed in theabove-mentioned copending application of C. R. Winston. The spacegenerator 25 generates a spacing signal after each character has beenprinted in response to the completion of printing of the character. Thepresence of a spacing signal at the output of the space generator 25indicates that a character symbol has been printed and that the nextcharacter symbol should be printed in the next printing position orcolumn to the right. Each spacing pulse from the space generator 25passes through an OR-gate 26 to advance a six-stage binary counter 27,and each stage of the binary counter 27 provides two binary outputs thatconstitute a conjugate pair. The initial condition of the binary counter27 selects the left-most nozzle 10 in the page printer for printing byproviding all of the inputs necessary to select and AND-gate 28-1. Whenthe AND- gate 28-1 is selected, it delivers a signal through an OR- gate29-1 to energize an amplifier 19-1 which causes current to flow in therelay coil 18-1. When sufficient current flows in the relay coil 18-1,Contact pair 17-1 closes, applying a high positive potential directly tothe valving electrode 11-1, causing ink to flow from its associatednozzle 10.

Due to transient conditions in the ink transfer device when theactivating voltage is first applied to a valving electrode 11, there isa slight lag in establishment of full emission from the nozzle 10. Topreclude this lag from restricting the printing speed, the output of theAND- gate 28 associated with any printing position also is used to turnon the ink transfer device located immediately to the right of theposition. Thus, the output of the AND- gate 28-1 also passes through anOR-gate 29-2 and causes an amplifier 19-2 to pass current through arelay coil 18-2. When current flows in the relay coil 18-2, the contactpair 17-2 is closed, applying a high positive potential to the valvingelectrode 11-2. At the time of such turningon of an ink transfer deviceto the right of the printing position, the ink stream issuing from thenozzle 10 associated with that device is deflected vertically downwardlyto impinge upon a baie or mask (not shown), as is described morethoroughly in the above-mentioned application of C. R. Winston; so thatat this time, ink is not deposited upon the paper by the preparatorilyturnedon device. Therefore, while the left-most ink transfer device isprinting the first character in a line of characters, the second inktransfer device is warming up.

As soon as the left-most printing device has completed the printing ofthe rst character of the line, the space generator 25 issues a spacingpulse which passes through the OR-gate 26 and advances the binarycounter 27 by one increment. In this next condition of the binarycounter 27, ve of the stages of the binary counter 27 remain unchangedbut the first stage (connected to the OR-gate 26) of the binary counter27 changes state. The resulting second condition of the binary counterremoves one input from the AND-gate 28-1 and applies it to the AND- gate28-2, producing an output from the AND-gate 28-2.

When the AND-gate 28-2 is energized, it supplies a signal through theOR-gate 29-2 to the amplifier 19-2. Since this amplifier 19-2 alreadywas activated under the control of the AND-gate 28-1, the AND-gate 28-2merely takes over from the AND-gate 28-1 the control of the amplifier19-2 and consequently the contacts 17-2 and valving electrode 11-2. Thecontact pair 17-2 remains closed and activating potential continues tobe applied to valving electrode 11-2. It will be seen that when theAND-gate 28-2 is energized, it also supplies signals through theOR-gates 29-1 and 29-3, taking over from the AND-gate 28-1 control ofthe contact pair 17-1 and causing the contact pair 17-3 to close,thereby maintaining the high positive potential on the valving electrode11-1 and applying the same voltage to the valving electrode 11-3,causing the device associated with the valving electrode 11-3 to war-mup. Therefore, ink is extracted simultaneously from the nozzles 10associated with all three of these valving electrodes 11-1, 11-2, and11-3.

At this time, the vertical deflection electrodes 12 and 13 associatedwith the devices represented by the valving electrodes 11-1 and 11-3 aremaintained at suitable voltages to deect their associated streams of inkdroplets downwardly out of impinging relationship vwith the paper, whilethe stream of ink droplets issuing from the nozzle 10 associated withvalving electrode 11-2 is controlled to impinge upon the paper. Theextraction of ink from the nozzle 10 associated with the valvingelectrode 11-1 after a characterhas been recorded by ink issuing fromthat nozzle 10 (of the leftmost or No. 1 printing position) is not, initself, beneiicial. However, it is beneficial, as previously stated, topreparatorily extract ink from the next nozzle 10 (the No. 3 printingposition, third from the left) to be used. There may be some possibilityof interaction between the electrostatic fields of adjacent inktransferring devices, and compensation for such interaction is obtainedby producing identical electrostatic fields in the devices on eitherside of the one that is recording a character. These fields then opposeand cancel one another in the region of the device which is recordingthe character.

Analog signals are applied to the vertical and horizontal deflectionelectrodes 12, 13, 14 and 15 associated with the valving electrode 11-2,as disclosed in the abovementioned Winston application, causing thestream of ink droplets passing through the hole 9-2 in the center of theelectrode 11-2 to trace an alphanumeric character on the paper in frontof the valving electrode 11-2. After this character has been printed,another spacing pulse is generated by the spacing generator 25. Thisnext spacing pulses passes through the OR-gate 26 and causes the binarycounter 27 to advance one more increment, causing the first stage(connected directly to the OR-gate 26) of the binary counter 27 torevert to its initial con dition and causing the second stage (connecteddirectly to the first stage and positioned immediately below it on theaccompanying drawing) of the binary counter 27 to change state. In thiscondition of the binary counter 27, only the AND-gate 28-3 is energizedand supplies a signal through the OR-gates 29-2, 29-3, and 29-4 to theamplifiers 19-2, 19-3, 19-4. These three amplifiers 19-2, 19-3 and 19-4cause contact pairs 17-2, 17-3, and 17-4 to apply high positivepotential to the valving electrodes 11-2, 11-3, and 11-4; therebyextracting ink from the nozzles associated therewith.

In this way, three nozzles 10 normally issue ink simultaneously, andeach spacing pulse from the space generator 25 causes the left-mostnozzle 10 of any group of three nozzles to cease issuing ink and turnson the nozzle 10 to the right of the three nozzles 10 that previouslyissued ink. As successive characters are printed, printing advances fromleft to right across the page COpy, until the binary counter 27ultimately energizes the last AND- gate 28-40 in the circuit. When theAND-gate 28-40 is energized, it supplies a signal through the OR-gate29-39 and 29-40 to amplifiers 19-39 and 19-40 in order to apply a highpositive potential to the valving electrodes 11-39 and 11-40.

It should be understood that the change of state of the several stagesof binary counter 27 Occurs within a matter of a few microseconds. Whenone AND-gate 28 is deenergized and the adjacent AND-gate 28 to the rightis energized, only these few microseconds elapse. This short time isinsuicient to allow any of the contact pairs 17 that are common to thesetwo AND-gates 28 to open during the time that control of the contactoperation is transferred from one amplifier 19 to another. The leftmostcontact pair 17 of the three contact pairs 17 previously closed,however, does open and remains open. Thus, in normal operation, once agiven contact pair 17 closes, it remains closed for three characterintervals, and the nozzle 10 associated with the Contact pair 17 isrecording a character during the second or middle of these threeintervals. After a contact pair 17 is opened in normal operation, itremains open until the next line is printed.

When printing is to begin again at the lefthand margin of the paper, thebinary counter 27 is reset to its initial condition by a reset pulsefrom a carriage-return pulse generator 33. The generator 33 is shown inthe drawing as a functional block but is similar to the carriage-returnfunction circuit that is disclosed in the above-mentioned copendingapplication of C. R. Winston. A reset pulse from carriage-return pulsegenerator 33 passes through OR-gates 34 to reset the several stages ofthe binary counter 27 to the initial condition.

If a feature known in the telegraph art as automatic carriage-return isdesired, the binary counter 27 can be arranged, according to known priorart techniques, to assume its initial condition after printing analphanumeric character with the stream of ink droplets that passesthrough the hole 9-40 in valving electrode 11-40. This can beaccomplished, for example, 4by gating the output of the space generator2S with the output of the AND- gate 28-40 to generate a reset pulse forthe binary counter 27. To facilitate immediate printing from theleft-most nozzle 10 in the event of an automatic carriage return, theoutput of the AND-gate 28-40 can be connected to one of the inputs ofthe OR-gate 29-1 in order to warm up the ink stream associated with theelectrode 11-1.

In telegraph page printers and in typewriters, it is often desirable tospace rapidly from a first printing position on the page to anohterprinting position on the same line which is more than one space to theright of the first printing position. This is accomplished by a machinefunction called tabulation. In the circuit sho-Wn in the accompanyingdrawing, a tabulation pulse generator 35 constantly emits pulses at arate significantly faster than the one-pulse-per-character rate' of thespacing generator 25. A tabulator start circuit 36, shown as afunctional block in the drawing, is similar to either the line feed orbell-ringing function decoding circuits 55 or 58 disclosed in theabove-mentioned application of C. R. Winston. This tabular start circuit36 issues a signal output to an AND-gate 37 when ever a code combinationrepresentative of a tabulate command signal is received by the telegraphreceiver of which this invention forms a part. An inverter 38 normallydelivers an enabling input signal to the AND-gate 37. Therefore, rapidpulses from the tabulator pulse generator 35 pass through the AND- gate37 whenever the tabulator start circuit 36 issues a signal. The signalissued by the tabulator start circuit 36 persists for an entirecharacter duration until the next code combination is received over thetelegraph line. When a tabulation command is received, tabulator pulsesare sent from the generator 35 through the AND-gate 37 and the OR-gate26 rapidly to advance the binary counter 27. Tabulation pulses issuefrom the generator 35 at a rate high enough to advance the binarycounter 27 from its initial condition, wherein the AND-gate 28-1 isselected to a condition wherein the AND-gate 28-40 is selected in thetime normally required to print one character.

Each AND-gate 28 has a tabulator stop output 40 which can be manuallyconnected (programmed) to one of the inputs of a tabulator stop OR-gate41 in order to select any one of the AND-gates 28 to represent apossi-ble tabulator stop position. Any electrical connection between thetabulator stop lead 40 of an AND-gate 28 and the tabulator stop OR-gate`41 is purely arbitrary (as on a typewriter). No such connections havebeen shown herein, but it is understood that any desired tabulator stopconnection can be made by an operator by simply connecting a wirebetween the desired AND-gate 28 and the OR-gate 41. When a signal isreceived by the ta-bulator stop OR-gate 41 over the lead 40 that isconnected to the output of a selected AND-gate 28, this signal isamplied by an amplifier 42 and is delivered to the inverter 38. When theinverter 3-8 receives a signal from the amplifier 42, the inverter 38removes the enabling signal input to the AND- gate 37 and blocks thepassage of further tabulator pulses to the OR-gate 26. For example,assume the binary counter 27 is in a condition to select the AND-gate28-2 and a tabulation command signal is received by the printer, thetabulator start circuit 36 issues a signal to the AND- gate 37 whichpermits tabulator pulse signals to pass from the tabulator pulsegenerator 35 through the OR-gate 26 to the binary counter 27. Assumingthat the printing machine has been programmed in such a way that theoutput from the AND-gate 286 has been connected by means of tabulatorstop output 40-6 to the tabulator stop OR-gate 41, the binary counter 27rapidly advances until the AND- gate 28-6 is Selected. When the AND-gate28-6 is selected, a signal is issued from the tabulator stop output 40-6to the tabulator stop OR-gate `41. This signal passen through theOR-gate 41 and causes the inverter 38 to remove the enabling inputsignal from the AND-gate 37, preventing further tabulator pulses fromreaching the binary counter 27. The binary counter 27 remains at a countwhich selects the AND-gate 28-6, and tabulation has been accomplished.The next code combination received over the telegraph line is notnormally another tabulator command signal; consequently, this next codecombination causes the tabulator start circuit 36 to remove another oneof the inputs to AND-gate 37. At the same time, the characterrepresented by this next code combination is printed by the nozzle 10associated with the valving electrode 11-6 under control of the outputof the AND-gate 28-6.

In the event that it is necessary to tabulate the page printer withoutthe use of a manually-programmed or pre-set tabulator stop, aone-or-two-character automatic tabulator signal may be sent to theprinter over the telegraph line and is used directly to set the state ofthe several stages of binary counter 27. An automatic tabulator functioncommand circuit 45 is shown in the drawing as a function block and issimilar to the function decoding circuits 50, 55, and 58 that aredisclosed in the abovementioned, copending Winston application. Theautomatic tabulator command circuit 45 issues a command signal each timethat a code combination representing an automatic tabulation functioncommand is received over the telegraph line. This signal enables a setof automatic tabulator AND-gates 46 for a duration that is slightlylonger than the period during which a single code combination isnormally received. Each code combination that is received over thetelegraph line is supplied to a set of automatic tabulator inputs 47,but these code combinations normally are blocked by the disabledAND-gates 46. When these AND-gates 46 are enabled by the circuit 45 inresponse to receipt of a coded automatic tabulator command signal, thecode combination received next is passed through the AND-gates 46directly to one set of inputs to the several stages of the binarycounter 27. A plurality of tabulator inverters 48 generate signals thatare the binary inverse of the code combination that passes through theAND-gates 46 and deliver these inverted signals through OR-gates 34 toanother set of inputs to the several stages of the counter 27. Thecounter 27 then assumes a condition dictated by the code combinationthat followed the automatic tabulator command. Since any possiblepermutation code combination can be set into the counter 27 through theAND-gates 46, the counter 27 can be set to energize any one of theAND-gates 28 to cause ink to be drawn from its associated nozzle 10.Therefore, the page printer can be tabulated on command to a columnposition that is either to the left or to the right of the previouscolumn position of the printer.

I claim:

1. A printer for selecting at least one of a plurality of columnpositions in which a symbol is to be printed including:

a plurality of printing means, each printing means individual to atleast one of a plurality of column positions for causing the printing ofany one of a plurality of symbols at its associated column positions;

a binary counter having a plurality of outputs;

means for normally advancing the counter a predetermined amount inresponse to the printing of a symbol by the printing means;

means responsive to the output of the counter for causing differentprinting means to be rendered operative for dilferent counter outputs;

means for supplying a tabulation signal to the printer;

means responsive to the tabulation signal for advancing 8 the counter ata rate which is substantially faster than the rate at which symbols arereceived;

a coincidence gate individual to a predetermined column position andhaving an output and a plurality of inputs, each of the inputs of thecoincidence gate being connected to different ones of the outputs of thebinary counter; and

means responsive to the output of the coincidence gate for disabling thefast counter'advancing means.

.2. A printer having a circuit for selecting at least one of a pluralityof column positions in which a symbol is to be printed in response to apermutation-coded input signal, including:

a plurality of printing devices, each printing device corresponding toat least one of a plurality of column positions for printing symbols atits associated column positions;

means for controlling the operation of each printing device;

a counter;

means for normally advancing the counter a predetermined amount inresponse to printing of a symbol by the printing device;

means controlled by dilerent output counts from the counter forselectively causing the controlling means to render the printing devicefor at least one column position operative;

means responsive to a first tabulation input signal for enabling thesetting of the counter; and

means for settingl the counter to a predetermined count in response to asecond permutation-coded input signal corresponding to the predeterminedcount.

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